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USPS Registered Mail Package - FOUND!

Have a package which was shipped back Registered Mail/Insured from NGC on 1/22/2014.... still showing the original scan... Supposedly the most secure tier for any courier.

January 23, 2014
Depart USPS Sort Facility
SARASOTA, FL 34230

I have been calling NGC and the USPS. USPS is simply.. the worst. These people answering the phone should not have their job and it amazes me that there is no outrage regarding such a famed service provider. A 3rd world mail courier has better service and systems. What they offer is to lookup tracking number and read off the status which is identical to what I see, nothing more. They have no solutions, promise to research and get back to me and never have.

NGC has opened a claim yet defer to the USPS to investigate. I would have expected some leverage with the Sarasota USPS office, yet this has to go through the conventional process which takes...2-3 weeks. I am told that registered mail is secure and there is a chance that this package is located yet given the USPS personnel involved, I have no faith. We'll wait and see (and pray).

This is a really unpleasant experience, to say the least which has made me fearful of using the service. I now opened up a private Fedex account and insurance. The last thing I need is the USPS insurance claim funds as there are 3 awesome Talers in that package which can not be replaced.

Has anyone experienced something like this?
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Comments

  • BailathaclBailathacl Posts: 1,011 ✭✭✭
    "The Internet? Is that thing still around??" - Homer Simpson
  • BailathaclBailathacl Posts: 1,011 ✭✭✭
    An eBay seller sent me two coins from Germany in late December, which the BundesPost website confirmed using their tracking number. In early January, the package showed up in the USPS system with the same tracking number, suggesting arrival at the USPS International Sorting location in New York. Weeks pass and the coins do not show up at my address (meanwhile about 6 other international registered letters do arrive, all sent after the German one, no problems and no delays) -- I think nothing of it, but after a couple of more weeks I contacted USPS customer service and they also simply parrotted back to me what the website tracking information was and indicated there is nothing more they could do. (They did suggest that I, rather than Customer Service, check with my local post office, for which nobody could provide a telephone number -- I took the time to go down on a Saturday and naturally they could tell me nothing either.) Nobody within USPS can tell me if things might be held up in customs, returned to sender due to a faulty address, or anything more than what the tracking website provides which after 7+ weeks is nothing.

    The seller was pretty irritated (at the US postal system, not at me). It looks like I'm headed toward a refund of money months later instead of receiving either the coins I wanted or some sort of explanation as to what happened. I have found this irritating and embarrassing (for the U.S.), without having really lost anything. Zohar, the loss of three high quality Talers is very distressing -- I hope they do find their way home to you somehow.
    "The Internet? Is that thing still around??" - Homer Simpson
  • bronzematbronzemat Posts: 2,602 ✭✭✭✭✭


    << <i>An eBay seller sent me two coins from Germany in late December, which the BundesPost website confirmed using their tracking number. In early January, the package showed up in the USPS system with the same tracking number, suggesting arrival at the USPS International Sorting location in New York. Weeks pass and the coins do not show up at my address (meanwhile about 6 other international registered letters do arrive, all sent after the German one, no problems and no delays) -- I think nothing of it, but after a couple of more weeks I contacted USPS customer service and they also simply parrotted back to me what the website tracking information was and indicated there is nothing more they could do. (They did suggest that I, rather than Customer Service, check with my local post office, for which nobody could provide a telephone number -- I took the time to go down on a Saturday and naturally they could tell me nothing either.) Nobody within USPS can tell me if things might be held up in customs, returned to sender due to a faulty address, or anything more than what the tracking website provides which after 7+ weeks is nothing.

    The seller was pretty irritated (at the US postal system, not at me). It looks like I'm headed toward a refund of money months later instead of receiving either the coins I wanted or some sort of explanation as to what happened. I have found this irritating and embarrassing (for the U.S.), without having really lost anything. Zohar, the loss of three high quality Talers is very distressing -- I hope they do find their way home to you somehow. >>



    FYI I have had nothing but missing packages go missing when they are sent from germany. As soon as it hits u.s. customs, they have gone MIA. Ive dealt with this for a year now and I no longer buy coins from germany. I dont care how nice the coin is or if its a deal.

    Something is truly going on with germany/customs. Every other country I order from, they arrive, but germany, NO!
  • harashaharasha Posts: 3,079 ✭✭✭✭✭
    I believe that I recently posted how an ebay win from Ohio disappeared from the tracking back in August. It was presumed lost after leaving North Carolina. All of a sudden, almost six months later, the packet showed up in Brooklyn. Shortly thereafter, it was delivered to me, on Long Island.
    I once had a problem with a lost delivery from England; $100 dollars, about, down the drain, but I have never had a problem from elsewhere in Europe, including Germany. Sometimes a package has taken a month or so, but there was delivery.
    Right now, however, a packet from South Africa, sent registered, is in limbo. After about one month, it ended up in New York customs last weekend. It has not been tracked further and I still am waiting.
    Honors flysis Income beezis Onches nobis Inob keesis

    DPOTD
  • Dennis88Dennis88 Posts: 5,797 ✭✭✭
    Germany has been awful lately. Have had several registered packages lost
    as well over the past year.
  • The olny registered mail package I've lost was one that was shipped to Germany.

    edited to add... the post office has an internal system of tracking registered mail that is not accessable to customers online or by phone. You might try going to your local post office and asking for help. From the USPS website:

    Registered Mail is the most secure USPS® mail service (protected by safes, cages, sealed containers, locks and keys). In addition, please note the following:

    A system of receipts is used to monitor the movement of mail from the point of acceptance to delivery.
    Access to these receipts is not readily available and can only be done only by initiating a claim form (not via phone service).
  • MacCrimmonMacCrimmon Posts: 7,051 ✭✭✭
    Cosmicdebris once had a Reg'd pkg. take 11 days to go 200 miles from PA to CT.....it did make it though.
  • ZoharZohar Posts: 6,629 ✭✭✭✭✭
    We are talking over a month from FL. The thought of these Talers being misrouted/misplaced or stolen is disturbing.
  • I had a registered letter from Germany go missing.
  • SwampboySwampboy Posts: 12,875 ✭✭✭✭✭
    Wow! I hope this resolves favorably for you Zohar.
    FWIW I have heard of Registered parcels that have arrived after a few months of bothersome anxiety.
  • LochNESSLochNESS Posts: 4,829 ✭✭✭
    I've never experienced this issue with Registered USPS service, but I have had these issues with regular "tracking" and "delivery confirmation" USPS service. My wife once had a package marked "delivered" to her PO Box, but it didn't show up. After a couple weeks she filed a claim. USPS paid the sender the claim amount, and they mailed her a replacement package. It arrived, she was happy. Then a month later the original package magically appeared. Our postmaster said it had been found in the back room in a pile underneath some other stuff. Apparently dropped and forgotten about.

    All I'm saying ... s#it happens and humans make errors ...
    ANA LM • WBCC 429

    Amat Colligendo Focum

    Top 10FOR SALE

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  • lordmarcovanlordmarcovan Posts: 43,194 ✭✭✭✭✭
    It wasn't Registered, but I had an insured package sent in Mid-April of last year arrive... in Mid-September!

    So it finally made it, long after the seller had refunded my money (I sent the coin back to him).

    Yours being Registered gives me a little more hope that it will be tracked down. I hope that like my situation, it's just a case of it getting stuck somewhere.

    So don't despair yet, and don't give up on lighting a fire beneath their buttocks. They want you to just give up, probably. I went through this runaround once (again, with an Insured, not Registered) package, and ended up eating it in the end, which still sticks in my craw 20 years later.

    image

    PS- the item I linked to above (which was MIA for something like 5 months), similarly showed the initial scan in the tracking, and then... nothing. Just like your Registered package seems to be doing.

    So it's gotten hung up somewhere between Point A and Point B. And if you chew enough arses long enough, hopefully it will be found.

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  • SaorAlbaSaorAlba Posts: 7,466 ✭✭✭✭✭
    You really have to find a "friend" in the post office that knows the DMM - Domestic Mail Manual. I have known my local post office people for many years so that when stuff happens with packages I can go in they are willing to dig for me.
    In memory of my kitty Seryozha 14.2.1996 ~ 13.9.2016 and Shadow 3.4.2015 - 16.4.21
  • ZoharZohar Posts: 6,629 ✭✭✭✭✭
    This is where I would think NGC should have an ability to influence USPS given the volume they do. The package is supposedly in FL.
  • nicholasz219nicholasz219 Posts: 1,386 ✭✭✭
    Oh, Zohar, that is terrible. Like you said, you would think that a large business (NGC) who sends secure packages all of the time through one shipper (USPS) would have some sort of influence over just lazy and indifferent employees. Nope. I won't get into the whole "government run businesses" diatribe here, but I think you get my drift. It's sad to have to accept this as a cost of doing business. Every time I think about using FedEx for everything, regardless of cost, I think of my grandfather who was a mailman and delivered my mail, which was the best thing ever, seeing my grandpa everyday. Then I think of the faceless employees of the USPS who make me get out of line to write in the ZIP code on a package then I think, let them all work at the DMV.

    I truly hope this is a case of misplaced and not totally lost Zohar.
  • ZoharZohar Posts: 6,629 ✭✭✭✭✭
    Thanks Nick and I do think these employees they hire today have no clue about service and live under a false sense of job security. Not only is the USPS broke but most of their staff will never find alternative jobs. It doesn't take much to be courteous and resourceful to the public who funds their business.
  • StorkStork Posts: 5,205 ✭✭✭✭✭
    I'll try and find my old emails and see who I contacted, but I did have a registered package go 'missing' for about 4 months. Basically it went from where I mailed it from to a facility 12 miles away and never budged. IIRC I filed a domestic claim online and within a week I had a response from a real person. The nice thing about registered is that it is a person-to-person hand off with a log, so there is always someone who can be left holding the bag so to speak. What happened with mine (I suspect) is a worker set it on a shelf and forgot all about it. Once I had a formal complaint going it arrived within another 10 days--with movement visible on line.

    I never once used the phone or talked to anyone in person, just used the online complaint system. It wasn't even a highly insured/valuable package (it was mostly just sentimental stuff I didn't want the TSA or military movers to lose), so it wasn't like it was a high value issue.

    In any case, I'll try and hunt my emails down (if I still have them) but try the USPS site for the online complaint.


    Cathy

    edited to add, I think I deleted a lot of the emails, but I think I must have used a military link...I'll keep checking.

  • SaorAlbaSaorAlba Posts: 7,466 ✭✭✭✭✭


    << <i>Thanks Nick and I do think these employees they hire today have no clue about service and live under a false sense of job security. Not only is the USPS broke but most of their staff will never find alternative jobs. It doesn't take much to be courteous and resourceful to the public who funds their business. >>



    Some of the older employees at my local PO are definitely "old fashioned" - stating they work for the United States Postal SERVICE with emphasis on the latter. The great thing about them is that they continue on despite even the local postmaster(she is a reincarnated Nazi or something). Obviously they are tenured and know it, so they get away with spending half an hour sifting through tubs of mail looking for my mail for me. I take them boxes of candy as a reward for their great effort. Too bad there are not many like them anymore in other post offices.
    In memory of my kitty Seryozha 14.2.1996 ~ 13.9.2016 and Shadow 3.4.2015 - 16.4.21
  • marcmoishmarcmoish Posts: 6,209 ✭✭✭✭✭
    oh my my heart goes out to you Z - the pain of every day I can relate - I hope you get it back in the end.

    One thing I always preferred is Fedex so thats a plus for our hosts - never missed a 2 day ship from Cali - while I've had a few losses from USPS over the years nothing that was registered so I hope yours is just a fluke.

    I also think you should dunk all your ats plastic and switch teams image
  • ormandhormandh Posts: 3,111 ✭✭✭
    I hate to hear this, Z. I think that it will show up though. Although you can not replace the exact coins, is there a way that you will be compensated?

    -Dan
  • ZoharZohar Posts: 6,629 ✭✭✭✭✭
    My sense is that in any metro area USPS offices you get more attitude than in smaller communities where it is more relationship driven. When walking into a USPS office I always feel that I need to serve the staff rather than being served as a client.

    I am ranting now due to the lost item, yet my sentiment has been there for many years regarding the decline in service. I now use Fedex and insurance through the ANA's Shipandinsure.com to handle shipments.

    Thanks for listening in on my rant. If this package does show up, it will attest to Registered mail being traceable.
  • brg5658brg5658 Posts: 2,384 ✭✭✭✭✭
    This kind of stuff is never fun, but I do believe it will show up. Best of luck, and keep us posted here!
    -Brandon
    -~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-
    My sets: [280+ horse coins] :: [France Sowers] :: [Colorful world copper] :: [Beautiful world coins]
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  • ZoharZohar Posts: 6,629 ✭✭✭✭✭
    Dan - this was fully insured through NGC so the funds will come back. I handpicked these at the NYC show in January and submitted at the show.

    The first two are not found this nice for the type.

    1763KB HUNGARY DAV-1132 TALER MS 63
    1855A AUSTRIA TALER MS 65
    1788 AUSTRIA BATTHYANI TALER AU 58
  • lordmarcovanlordmarcovan Posts: 43,194 ✭✭✭✭✭


    << <i>My sense is that in any metro area USPS offices you get more attitude than in smaller communities where it is more relationship driven >>

    Oh, I dunno. My 1994 bitter experience I alluded to was with the Swannanoa, NC post office. The kind of place that closes when the guy goes out to lunch. (We locals didn't call it "Swannanowhere" for nothin'.)

    So much for "local relationships". Around that time, I heard somebody found a full mailbag in the Swannanoa River. If that was true, I guess somebody didn't feel like finishing his route that day and decided to lighten his load. My coins weren't in that bag (I don't think), but it makes you wonder.

    Explore collections of lordmarcovan on CollecOnline, management, safe-keeping, sharing and valuation solution for art piece and collectibles.
  • I'm cringing at what you must be feeling. I've likewise had some tense moments wondering what happened to a few of my packages.

    It is my sincere hope that USPS eventually delivers them to you.

  • STLNATSSTLNATS Posts: 1,597 ✭✭✭
    I must be the exception since I generally get great service from USPS, orders of magnitude better than Fed Ex, etc. A couple of hickcups, but most traceable to foreign Post Offices (the worst being an irreplaceable Latvian note that never made it out of Germany - still a hole in my collection). That being said, I do have something from eastern Europe hung up in NYC (per the USPS tracking system) since 30 January and the sender indicates that he has a number of other items sent at the same time there as well.

    At any rate, do feel for you and hope that it gets resolved soon! Not much worse for a collector than catching a big fish only to have it get lost in transit.

    image
    Always interested in St Louis MO & IL metro area and Evansville IN national bank notes and Vatican/papal states coins and medals!
  • ZoharZohar Posts: 6,629 ✭✭✭✭✭
    Received a call from NGC today. USPS's investigation on this matter confirmed package is lost and they will move to make payment. They do not provide the reason for the loss (theft, misrouting etc.) as I assume they do not wish to share the dirty laundry. I personally have called the various USPS numbers and faced moronic employees throughout.

    I feel miserable to say the least. Feel like I have been robbed. These are top end coins. I hope the payment process accelerates as a result of the USPS's acknowledgement of the loss.

    NGC's handling has been professional. In particular, Scott Schechter, who is a class act.
  • lordmarcovanlordmarcovan Posts: 43,194 ✭✭✭✭✭


    << <i>I feel miserable to say the least. >>

    Sorry, Z. image



    << <i>Feel like I have been robbed. >>

    Well, uh... yeah? You have been.

    Sux. image


    Explore collections of lordmarcovan on CollecOnline, management, safe-keeping, sharing and valuation solution for art piece and collectibles.
  • JCMhoustonJCMhouston Posts: 5,306 ✭✭✭
    Sorry to hear that Z, it will take quite a while to find replacements as nice, even though they are making you whole on the cost.
  • marcmoishmarcmoish Posts: 6,209 ✭✭✭✭✭
    damn!!

    Z - can you post the three missing pieces - maybe someone will recognize it (eventually) or that we can cry together over the loss.
  • ZoharZohar Posts: 6,629 ✭✭✭✭✭
    If anyone runs across these anywhere (Ebay, show etc.) please let me know ASAP. These are images off NGC's site

    image
    image
    image
  • EVillageProwlerEVillageProwler Posts: 5,859 ✭✭✭✭✭
    OMG! I'm terribly sorry to hear of this final word (although I'm still holding out hope that it won't be final -- even if several months from now). And, yes, Scott is a good guy.

    BTW, I just sent a major grouping of coins via registered mail. Knowing of this issue with Zohar has made me nervous. I've been checking my iPhone app twice daily. Mailed it Saturday morning from local PO in central NJ. On Monday early afternoon, it was at the central sorting facility in central NJ.

    I'm surprised I still have finger nails remaining...

    Not to hijack this thread, but for anyone here who is religious, please put in a good word to your deity of choice to have this shipment arrive at its intended destination without incident. And, Zohar's too (without further incident).

    EVP

    How does one get a hater to stop hating?

    I can be reached at evillageprowler@gmail.com

  • ZoharZohar Posts: 6,629 ✭✭✭✭✭
    Thanks EVP.

    Not religious yet will pray for the package to make it. I am sure it will.
  • Wow! My experience with registered mail is that the post office ships it by horse and buggy. It takes forever to get there but it always does. How can registered mail get lost? I thought they have a chain of custody on registered mail. Every employee it gets handed off to has to sign for it and it gets locked up when not in transit. Don't they have postal inspectors to look into these things? Sorry for your lost coins, I'm sure it will take up a lot of your time to find suitable replacements.
    Veni, Vidi, Vici
  • ZoharZohar Posts: 6,629 ✭✭✭✭✭
    Thanks much.

    They are very secretive about disclosing the reasons - perhaps internal investigation perhaps criminal. The fact they are rushing to pay indicates that its clear cut to them that the package can not be found... "fell of the truck perhaps". Per NGC no other packages had gone missing during that day. These were sent during the bad weather so perhaps its a misrouted (at best) or stolen (worst).

    Losses happen, as painful as this one is, yet the USPS service leaves the consumer in a helpless state. These folks have no clue about service. If you could fire and replace them I am sure the vibe would change. Unlike most of us, they are afforded job security and no accountability for their action.

    I will focus on getting my funds back and hopefully finding other pieces which are as much of a challenge as funding them.
  • StorkStork Posts: 5,205 ✭✭✭✭✭
    That sucks...and sounds like they know what happened and it's irretrievable. I never did find my old emails (deleted I suppose) but I did figure out I'd started with a military link so I don't have the name of the useful person. BUT, a person did do the trace and they clearly found mine...no rush to pay off the insurance. I assume the 'lazy' party must have been identified as the package suddenly re-entered the system after a 4 month hiatus in one particular location.

    I'm curious, lets say you did see them on e-bay (or on someones site for sale)...if the insurance is paid do you have any recourse to file a police report and try to get them back as stolen property? Or, is the USPS now the new owner? Can they even be reported as stolen if the postal service isn't doing anything other than paying for a loss? I suppose it could have been a wrecked mail truck rather than a theft that made them pay out...

    They look like awesome coins too.


    Cathy

  • STLNATSSTLNATS Posts: 1,597 ✭✭✭
    This is really a shame and one of the worst things that can happen to a collector, especially as focussed as you. Here's hoping that your compensation is enough to replace them with even better examples, altho looking at the scans that's gonna be quite a challenge.

    image
    Always interested in St Louis MO & IL metro area and Evansville IN national bank notes and Vatican/papal states coins and medals!
  • LochNESSLochNESS Posts: 4,829 ✭✭✭
    That's a really cool website, Rob! Thanks for sharing.

    Zohar, those MS coins look amazing. Must feel like salt in the wound. But at least we have them as evidence to what was in the package. Is USPS paying for the appraised value of the graded coins? or the raw prices? I think it should be the slabbed values.
    ANA LM • WBCC 429

    Amat Colligendo Focum

    Top 10FOR SALE

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  • ZoharZohar Posts: 6,629 ✭✭✭✭✭
  • LochNESSLochNESS Posts: 4,829 ✭✭✭
    Which was declared? the raw? I would see about having them compensate for the slabbed value, since that is what was lost. NGC should have declared that market value when shipping them back to you. Not what you put on the forms when sending to them... if you knew the grades you might have declared more.
    ANA LM • WBCC 429

    Amat Colligendo Focum

    Top 10FOR SALE

    image
  • ZoharZohar Posts: 6,629 ✭✭✭✭✭
    I guess that's how it works from a technical, subjective in a way. I guess this tells us all not to under value to save on insurance.

    Now getting paid from the USPS... thats a whole new process.

    Life goes on, and this is just one bump in the road.

    Thanks all.
  • LochNESSLochNESS Posts: 4,829 ✭✭✭
    Doesn't NGC have a price guide on their website? similar to PCGS registry price guide? I would check with your contact at NGC and see what values they declared on their shipment [to you]. They may have declared more than what you have requested from USPS. Man this really stinks 360 degrees.
    ANA LM • WBCC 429

    Amat Colligendo Focum

    Top 10FOR SALE

    image
  • ZoharZohar Posts: 6,629 ✭✭✭✭✭
    Its on their portal they declare what I put on form.

    Stinks is an understatement, especially the MS-65 piece which is as PL as they get.
  • OriginalDanOriginalDan Posts: 3,713 ✭✭✭✭✭
    This is so sad, I'm sorry Zohar. Hope the coins are found eventually, the money is just not a great replacement when you've searched and searched for nice examples.
  • ZoharZohar Posts: 6,629 ✭✭✭✭✭
    UPDATE! Scott Schechter, NGC team and the local Sarasota USPS office worked diligently trying to force the USPS to trace. Apparently a disconnect between the various regional offices. This morning I learn the package did make it to JFK and that there is hope. I really appreciate the personal touch by the NGC team as I am a relatively small submitter. I am grateful.

    I just saw a scan showing package movement. There is hope after 6 weeks!
  • PeaceBDPeaceBD Posts: 234


    << <i>UPDATE! Scott Schechter, NGC team and the local Sarasota USPS office worked diligently trying to force the USPS to trace. Apparently a disconnect between the various regional offices. This morning I learn the package did make it to JFK and that there is hope. I really appreciate the personal touch by the NGC team as I am a relatively small submitter. I am grateful.

    I just saw a scan showing package movement. There is hope after 6 weeks! >>



    Glad to know the package is on the move. Best of luck and hope you get it soon.
  • desslokdesslok Posts: 310 ✭✭✭
    Excellent news! Very happy to hear it. I've had packages lost in the past so I know the feeling. Keeping my fingers crossed for you :-)
  • IosephusIosephus Posts: 872 ✭✭✭
    Excellent news! Here's hoping it's soon in your hands.
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